My gr-gr-grandmother's name was Ida Matilda Martin (05-Dec-1858--11-Mar-1899). She married Wilhelm Koehler (21-Feb-1854--22-Dec-1900) in Germany and emigrated to Wisconsin, USA, in 1882 with their two eldest children, Bertha and Robert. No other information on their past was known on Wilhelm and Ida Matilda, the dates I provided were given to me in a handwritten manuscript pre-Internet (though there are several guesses on Ancestry that seem unlikely or unproven). This family settled in Clark County, Wisconsin (Taylor is the next county north). Recently I came across the ship manifests for this family, both departure from Hamburg and arrival in NYC. They suggest that Wilhelm and Mathilda were traveling from Trugleben, Gotha. I have not found any marriage or baptismal records for this young family. Something of note is that the family above them in these ship lists is the Friedrich Martin family of Grossfahner, Gotha. This young family corresponds with Christian Friedrich Martin and his wife, Christiane, as well as children Ernst, Caroline and Minna. Upon further investigation, I have *several* autosomal DNA matches to this family (as well as his brother Fritz & Johanne). I have no other obvious relation to these DNA cousins. Also of note, my family lived in the same area of Wisconsin as these folks, and my great-gr-uncle Otto Thieme married Helen Klemm, who also seems to have ties with the Christ Martin family. Bertha Koehler married Fred Thieme (Otto's brother) and on their marriage record August Martin is listed as a witness. These families all knew each other. I think Ida Matilda Martin (Familysearch# KHN1-4FP) is likely one of the two unidentified sisters of Johan Georg Martin. Can anyone explain how it was found that there were two sisters, but no names? I'd like to dig into this further. I'm hoping to find some church records that may validate some of this. Thank you and I hope to connect with you all!
Gina Bower (ginabower(at)gmail)
